Dad Kills Son To Save Money

A father who initially claimed gunmen kidnapped his two-year-old son has been accused of murdering the toddler after being ordered to pay child support. Skip related content
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Dad 'Kills Son Over Child Debts'

Danny Platt, 22, from New Orleans, US, confessed and told cops where to find the boy's body, police superintendent Warren Riley said.

The father is to be charged with the first-degree murder of his son Ja' Shawn Powell.

"(Platt) had said he would kill either his wife or his child before he paid child support," which he recently had been ordered to do, Mr Riley said.

The superintendent said he did not know the amount of child support and would not describe how the boy was killed.

"The mother is in a safe place," Mr Riley added.

Although he had visiting rights, Platt had never gone to see the boy until he picked him up Friday, Mr Riley said.

Police put out a notice on Saturday asking people to look for the Ja' Shawn after Platt claimed the toddler had been abducted.

Mr Riley said Platt had alleged three men with dreadlocks and AK-47 rifles rushed out of a car and kidnapped the boy shortly before midnight on Friday.

"His story never really added up. He was a suspect from the very beginning," the officer said.

The superintendent went on: "How does an individual - because he's ordered to pay child support to take care of a kid - believe that this is so much pressure that he would face, he would do this hideous act to his own child, or to any child, and think that is a remedy to paying child support?"

Courtesy skynews